Effects of Balance Training on Postural Stability

Abstract

The present study is designed to address the relationship between postural sway and balance training. We compared postural sway in a group of trained dancers to a group of physically fit, untrained participants (control group) in order to assess enhanced postural control with balance training, particularly under challenging balance conditions. We varied the difficulty of postural control by using two surface conditions (rigid surface, foam surface) and two visual conditions (eyes open, eyes closed), factorially combined. The data were evaluated using 1-between (group) × 2-within (vision and surface) analyses of variance (ANOVA). The three dependent variables were the standard deviation of the COP time series in the anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) axes, and the COP path length. Significant main effects were found for surface and vision and the surface*vision interaction in all conditions. Significant group differences were found in the AP and ML axes. The results of this study indicate that balance training enhances the control of posture. Thus, it may be useful to provide balance training to workers who must operate under conditions that threaten balance.